


Murasakibara's Journey

by the_crazyones



Series: The Nostalgia Chronicles [6]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 12:40:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1688705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_crazyones/pseuds/the_crazyones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A piece of snack, Murasakibara learns, is not enough to maintain a friendship when people are determined to drift apart. Murasakibara tries to handle his quirky relationships through comics and snacks.</p><p>Set during Teikou era. Murasakibara POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Murasakibara's Journey

There used to be a comic Murasakibara followed. There were only three panels every month, printed on the back of his favourite brand of  _potechi tops._ It told a simple tale – Murasakibara liked simple stories – of a little boy who was all alone in a big city. Isolated for his inability to speak the local language. The little boy saw the world in grey.  
  
Until one day, the little boy chanced upon a small patch of colourful flowers next to a giant dumpster. And suddenly, the world was in colour. The flowers accepted him for who he was.  
  
Murasakibara liked that comic. He liked it a lot.  
  
____  
  
In his first month at Teikou, Murasakibara feels small for the first time in his life. Everyone stares at him whenever he says or does anything, during the welcome ceremony, during class introductions, during health inspection.  
  
Murasakibara doesn’t care though. He buries himself in  _potechi tops, maiu-bo,_ chocolates and tube ice lollies. He makes trips to the little convenience store next to Teikou by himself. He tries new brands of snacks on the days when people stare at him the hardest. He reads the comic at the back of the  _potechi tops_  packet.  
  
In his second month, people still throw looks at him whenever he speaks or acts. Murasakibara walks towards the convenience store at the end of another school day when he is interrupted by a composed, authoritative voice.  
  
"Murasakibara Atsushi."  
  
He turns, and sees a redheaded boy much, much shorter than he is. He looks into the boy’s eyes. It becomes the first time since he attends Teikou that he doesn’t feel small.  
  
Murasakibara doesn’t try to decipher why.  
  
"Want to go to the convenience store with me?" Murasakibara asks the redheaded boy.  
  
He blinks, but nods once.  
  
In the convenience store, Murasakibara readily accepts the proposition offered by the boy. There is no need to question him. Especially when the boy evokes such a new feeling within Murasakibara. The feeling reminds Murasakibara of that comic.  
  
He merely buys two ice lollies.  
  
They exit the store, then Murasakibara turns to Akashi. He hands him one of the ice lollies.  
  
"I bought this for you."  
  
Akashi smiles. He accepts it.  
  
____  
  
  
Akashi makes Murasakibara see the world differently. In just a few months, Murasakibara gets used to the repose and contentment of being surrounded by people. He gets used to being around people stranger than he is.  
  
"Oi, Akashi! The amount of love letters you’re getting from both boys  _and_ girls is just insane!” shouts Aomine, pointing a finger rudely at the boy. They are doing warm-up stretches in the gym before starting practice drills. Murasakibara has dragged himself to yet another troublesome basketball practice session.  
  
He doesn’t try to decipher why he keeps going.  
  
"You must doing some freaky hypnotising crap to get this popular," Aomine continues, scowling sulkily.  
  
Murasakibara finds Aomine slightly irritating. The boy keeps stealing his Pocky. He knows this despite Aomine’s vehement protestations otherwise. Another thing- his overwhelming enthusiasm for basketball confounds Murasakibara.  
  
Akashi merely continues stretching his arms. “I don’t understand why you’re getting agitated over this,” he says calmly. “Ryouta receives the highest number of love letters among us, by far. Romantic gifts, as well.”  
  
"That’s right, Aominecchi!" says Kise, bouncing up and down. "Why, just today, I received a homemade bento! And another girl gave me onion gratin soup, my absolute  _favourite_ food in the world! And then mine and Murasakibaracchi’s classmate gave me this really cool-“  
  
"Shut up, shut up!" Aomine yells, leaping towards him. He puts Kise into a headlock. Strangled yelps and colourful curses echo around the gym.  
  
Murasakibara never notices Kise as his classmate until the day he joins them in the first string. After that, Murasakibara thinks Kise’s enthusiasm is even more confounding than Aomine’s. Ever since he met Aomine, the blond oozed exuberance for  _everything._ Not just basketball.  
  
"Don’t worry, Aomine-kun," Kuroko speaks up. He puts an arm over his head to stretch it. Then he goes on, "I am certain you aren’t the only one for whom love letters are scarce."  
  
Everyone turns to look at Midorima.  
  
Murasakibara finds Kuroko the most irritating of all. Murasakibara dislikes basketball. He hates that Kuroko can put in so much effort into something he dislikes so profoundly.  
  
Midorima has been dutifully performing his stretches in silence. He blushes red when everyone looks at him. A hand flies to his spectacles, hiding the pinkish tinge decorating his cheeks.  
  
"Today…I received one in my shoe locker," he states. His hand remains on his face.  
  
Murasakibara feels pure jealousy for the first time when he meets Midorima. The feeling is stronger than what he feels whenever he sees someone else eating a snack he doesn’t have. The green tendrils tighten around his heart every time Midorima and Akashi enter a room on their own for a shogi game.  
  
Aomine drops Kise as his own mouth falls open. Kise hits the floor with a thump. He doesn’t appear to feel the impact- he is staring at Midorima with wide eyes.  
  
"What!" Aomine exclaims. His hands fly to his hair. He shakes his head vigorously. "Even a weirdo like you is receiving some!"  
  
"Don’t call Midorin a weirdo!" scolds Momoi, as she strides up to Aomine to hit him on the head. She turns to smile at Midorima. "Midorin is kind and gentle to girls, that’s why he receives love notes."  
  
Murasakibara likes Momoi a lot. She is always thoughtful to give him his favourite snack whenever he sees her. She always has a happy smile when she greets him.  
  
Midorima blushes harder at Momoi’s words. He pushes his spectacles higher on his face.  
  
"You can’t talk, Satsuki," Aomine groans. "Your own desk is overflowing with love letters!"  
  
"I don’t care about that," says Momoi quickly. Her eyes dart to Kuroko. She blushes a pretty pink hue. Almost as pretty as the pink still painted on Midorima’s cheeks.  
  
"I only care about one person…" She buries her face in her hands in an incoherent squeal.  
  
Kuroko turns to her with a smile. “Thank you for those basketball socks you gave me the other day, Momoi-san. They are extremely comfortable.”  
  
"You gave him basketball socks?" interjects Aomine. He lightly raps Momoi on the head. "Oi! Satsuki! I  _told_ you the other day that I needed a pair and you gave them to Tetsu?”  
  
"He deserves them more than you do," Momoi replies, her hands still covering her face. Aomine opens his mouth to protest.  
  
"Enough of all this nonsense," interrupts Midorima irritatedly.  
  
Everyone turns to him.  
  
Akashi nods his head sagely in agreement, still doing his stretches.  
  
"What about Murasakibara," Midorima continues, with a quiet tone. Akashi immediately looks at him with slightly widened eyes. Then he lets out a sigh, and shakes his head. He says nothing.  
  
Everyone flicks their heads to Murasakibara.  
  
"Mmm…" says Murasakibara thoughtfully. He stretches his leg languidly for a moment. Then he shrugs. "I don’t know…"  
  
"What do you mean, Murasakibaracchi!" Kise exclaims immediately. He jumps up from the floor with an excited grin. "Murasakibaracchi has been receiving chocolates from a mysterious person every single day for the past week!" he tells everyone delightedly.  
  
At his words, Aomine immediately groans and covers his face. Momoi giggles, Midorima blushes again and Kuroko smiles. Akashi lets out another sigh, but doesn’t say anything.  
  
"Heh, you dumbasses care too much about all these love letters and shit," a voice interrupts them.  
  
Everyone turns to see that Haizaki has sauntered up to them. An arrogant smirk is on his face.  
  
Murasakibara really dislikes Haizaki. He steals food, and no one should steal food from another.  
  
But he also pities Haizaki somewhat. Everyone looks at Haizaki the same way they used to look at Murasakibara. Before Murasakibara met Akashi, and found himself surrounded by strange people.  
  
Haizaki merely acts even worse, inviting more stares, more looks of judgement and prejudice.  
  
"If you want girls, you just gotta pick them up. No problem," says Haizaki, his tone dripping in smugness.  
  
Aomine opens his mouth to speak. So does Kise, in an automatic protest to anything Haizaki says.  
  
Then a hand slams down on Haizaki’s head, cutting them short. The boy yelps, and turns to glare at Nijimura, who has a fierce expression.  
  
"What’s all this about girls, boys and love letters, huh?" he says sternly. "You are in basketball practice right now! Think about basketball, not romance!"  
  
"Thank you, senpai," says Akashi quietly.  
  
Mumbled apologies immediately fill the air. Aomine says his sulkily, Momoi embarrassedly and Kuroko calmly. Kise shouts his apology while Midorima turns to look at the floor, blushing again.  
  
Murasakibara admires Nijimura. He wishes that sometime in the future he could be like him, and unite strange people with merely a few choice words. He wishes he would not have to rely on assorted snacks to form connections, some day, one day.  
  
"Whatever," Haizaki sneers. He ducks out of Nijimura’s hand, and stomps away. Murasakibara stares after him, feeling the mixture of dislike and pity stir within him.  
  
A vein throbs in Nijimura’s forehead. “Akashi, make sure they focus,” he says authoritatively. Then he turns and follows Haizaki.  
  
There is a short silence, during which everyone quietly performs their stretches.  
  
Then Murasakibara speaks up, “…let’s go to the convenience store after this. I want to try a new ice lolly flavour.”  
  
His words are greeted with jubilance and excited exclamations. Akashi shakes his head, but it is only to himself. The corners of his lips are curved slightly upwards.  
  
Murasakibara’s irritation with Aomine, Kise, Kuroko and Midorima disappears every time this happens. They always accept his invitations and his snacks. Murasakibara understands this sentiment.  
  
Until the day he could be like Nijimura comes, Murasakibara would make connections the only way he knew how.  
  
____  
  
  
The day Murasakibara has the sudden desire to beat Akashi is the same day the comic stops being printed on the back of the  _potechi tops_ packet.  
  
During that morning, Murasakibara grabs the packet and opens it. He automatically glances at the back, and is surprised to see only the list of ingredients.  
  
He feels slightly sad that the comic remains unfinished. It has stopped right at the point where the flowers are nearly wilting. The boy weeps tears, because the flowers face an inevitable death.  
  
When Murasakibara attends basketball practice wearily later that evening, he feels irritated that Aomine is not there, that he is missing once more. He is irritated that Kise no longer desperately seeks Aomine out for one-on-one matches. He is upset that Momoi looks sad because of Aomine. She used to have a happy smile, all the time.  
  
Most of all, he feels irritated at all the effort he is putting into a sport he dislikes. The effort is wasted, because Momoi is sad, Midorima practises alone, Kuroko looks confused, and Kise no longer runs after Aomine with exuberance.  
  
What is the point of putting in all the energy? His little space of strange people has disappeared.  
  
He challenges Akashi. Akashi, after all, is the person who made him see colour and beauty. He made him experience something he wished would be permanent, but couldn’t have been permanent.  
  
Murasakibara loses. He thinks that is okay, because he can still follow Akashi. Akashi has changed, and he now needs obedience. Murasakibara decides to give that to him.  
  
The only time he feels that it isn’t okay is when his tongue feels stuck, and his hands feel limp because he can’t offer a snack. He feels that even if he does, everyone will still walk away.  
  
Sometimes, Murasakibara wonders if the little boy in the comic has a happy ending.  
  
____  
  
When Murasakibara first arrives in Yosen in Akita, he feels small once again. This time, there is no Akashi to follow.  
  
Yosen seems grey to Murasakibara. He eats  _potechi tops,_ and  _maiu-bo,_ and tube ice lollies with as much gusto as he used to do in Teikou.  
  
Until the day he meets an exceedingly beautiful boy.  
  
The boy speaks with a slightly odd Japanese accent. He is too polite to everyone. He is trying to fit in.  
  
Murasakibara thinks that is okay, because he is trying to find a niche for himself too. So he approaches the boy, and asks, “Want to go to the convenience store with me?”  
  
The boy nods. He is eager to please.  
  
The first time Himuro smiles at Murasakibara with all the patience the Miracles used to have for his strangeness, Murasakibara finally feels that Yosen radiates with colour.  
  
It is colourful because Coach hits him with a bamboo sword with the same liberty Nijimura used to whack him. Because everyone ribs Okamura the same way the Miracles used to playfully tease Kise.  
  
And most of all, because all he has to do is hold out a snack, and everyone pounces on it, including Coach.  
  
Murasakibara hopes the little boy in the comic has found another patch of flowers, just like he has.


End file.
